Re: [tied] PIE mustelids and seals

From: Marc Verhaegen
Message: 4493
Date: 2000-10-23

I thought that the word "birch" was related to "bright", ie, the light-coloured tree. Is this so? Then it is unambiguous, isn't it?    --Marc
 
"Salmon" is indeed tricky, but I'd say that the meaning 'birch' for *bHerxg- is hardly controversial. The word means 'birch' in Germanic, Slavic and Baltic. Old Indian bhu:rja- (< *bHrxgo-) is the name of a birch-like tree. Latin fra:xinus, while probably related, is not really the same word, and can't be the original 'ash-tree' term either; it's quite clearly an innovation. To conclude, *bHerxg- may be dialectal but is quite unambiguous as a tree-name.        Piotr